| The Sylvester McCoy Years 1987 - 1989 |
| It has to be said that by this time, the BBC couldn't really give a gnat's knacker about Doctor Who anymore. The only reason that the show wasn't dropped just yet was because the BBC feared a massive outcry from the show's small but vocal group of fans. There was actually a clever way round this, which they eventually realised but not just yet... So, as Sylvester McCoy took on the troubled role for it's final three regular years on the BBC, they decided to put it up against Coronation Street in order to try and reduce the viewing figures to zero, as that would be a good start in justifying axing it for good. Sure enough, the ratings were the lowest ever in the programme's long history. Which is a shame really, because some of the Sylvester McCoy stuff is actually quite good. The first year was terrible. Sylvester played the Doctor as an idiotic spoon-playing buffoon, Bonnie Bloody Langford was still lurking round the scenery like a bad smell, and we had ridiculous guest stars hamming it up, the likes of Richard Briers, Ken Dodd and, Christ, even Hale and Pace! By this stage, even I was considering switching over to Coronation Street. But then, by McCoy's second year, the show had changed completely. The Seventh Doctor was now dark and brooding and even mysterious again, we started to get some cracking stories and even Bonnie Langford had buggered off. It really looked like the magic of Doctor Who was slowly but surely creeping back in.... So the BBC axed it. Sneakily and deviously. Wankers. |
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| McCoy's Dolly Birds |
| Monsters And Villains |
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| An eclectic mix of monsters and villains for the McCoy era, kicking off with a return appearance from Kate O Mara's The Rani. Actually, the Rani was piss-poor and looked like she'd just walked off the set of Dallas and into the wrong show. But never mind, here's a nice picture of Kate O Mara anyway. We also encountered this crazy guy, The Kandyman, a monster composed entirely of sweets and who had Bassett's lawyers twitching over their telephones. Some might say that Doctor Who was really scraping the barrel now with this shit, but I quite enjoyed it - that particular story was wonderful to watch if you'd accidentally swallowed an acid tab or three. A nod of approval as well to McCoy's Dalek story which was the best Dalek story for a long, long time, mainly because Davros was reduced to a small appearance at the climax, whilst the Daleks took centre-stage for the first time since the 70's. And they were great! |
| McCoy Trivia |
By the time of McCoy's debut, Michael Grade had left the BBC but he actually wrote a letter to Sylvester McCoy, thanking him for saving the show. This must have been a nice contrast for McCoy, who was regularly receiving bucketloads of mail from fans, cursing his very soul for destroying the show. In fact, Michael Grade is often wrongly credited for axing Doctor Who when he didn't. He simply suspended it for 18 months, sacked the leading actor, and then buggered off to ruin somebody else's corporation. It was his successor, Jonathan Powell, who finally axed Doctor Who. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart made his final appearance in McCoy's last year and for one horrible moment, we all thought he was going to die. In fact, that was the original plan but in the end, the production team couldn't bring themselves to do it. Bless. We were also introduced to a new black female Brigadier (right on!) who would probably have been a recurring character if the show had continued. Which it didn't. |
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| McCoy - The Good Things |
Thankfully, the show was now growing out of it's phase of continually self-referencing itself and harking back to plotlines from 20 years earlier, so the general public could once again watch self-contained stories that needed no previous knowledge of the programmes. It's a pity then that they were all watching Coronation Street instead. The final two years showed a great return to form for the show, featuring a classic Dalek story, a wonderful new vision for UNIT, and best of all, no Bonnie Langford. |
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The whole of the first year. We had to endure the three worst Doctor Who stories ever produced, side by side and it was all just so bloody awful. The scheduling and the complete lack of promotion from the BBC. It seems bizarre now, but for three whole years, the BBC invested £1.5 million into Doctor Who, and then proceeded to bury it in the schedules against Coronation Street. |
| McCoy - The Rubbish Things |
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| It's The End, But.... |
| Sylvester McCoy was all geared up to do a fourth season as the Doctor when the BBC played their 'sneaky bastard' card. They announced at a press conference that 'change' was on the horizon for Doctor Who, and that they were going to re-launch the show with a whole new format for the 90's. We were told that we "may have to wait a little longer than usual before a new series but that Doctor Who has a secure future on the BBC". Lying little bastards. The truth was that Jonathan Powell had very deviously axed the show for good with no intention of ever bringing it back - but fearing an outcry from the fans, he created a tissue of lies that would stretch on for years about the BBC "trying to work out a new format for the programme", when all the time he was simply turning away any company who showed the slightest interest in producing the show. We pay our licence fee to these cunts. Remember that. Tattoo it on your head and you will never ever forget. It would take seven years before we would finally witness Sylvester McCoy regenerating into the Eighth Doctor. But, back then in 1989, the Seventh Doctor and Ace walked off into the sunset and Doctor Who, as a regular ongoing series was finished. |
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| McCoy's main companion was Ace, an attempt by the producers to inject a bit of 'street cred' into the show by having a plucky young girl from the ghetto to assist the Doctor. However, this was very much an upper-class BBC version of 'street cred' which just involved Ace saying "Wicked!" a lot in a fairly cringeworthy and embarrassing way. Still, she wasn't that bad actually and was infinitely more palatable than Bonnie Bloody Langford. |
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